Eschaton

April 14, 2021April 15, 2021 Chris Hall63 Comments

Leaving the devastated city behind, the road leads me past pockets of people, scattered across wildernesses where they scratch a living. Their eyes hollow and dark, they stare at me as if I’m a ghost; perhaps I am – I have no hunger, no thirst, I just walk and watch, a dignified presence on the periphery of a broken world.

Time and existence are unravelled; I know not over which continent I travel. A shining figure in the distance beckons. I hasten, knowing she will lead me home.

Rapture transports me
out of carnage and decay:
bound to be reborn.

Photo by Rubén Bagüés on Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – TRANSPORT, DIGNIFIED, ROAD
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – WALK

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories – or bring one of your own!

Your light still shines

April 12, 2021 Chris Hall56 Comments

In the calm of the evening
walking on wet sand
the soft scratch of silica
caresses my naked feet

I lift my face skywards
tasting the salt-laden breeze
sharpened by thyme-scented air
filtering from hushed hillsides

As the sun slips into the ocean
bronze and crimson flares flash
across the rolling cobalt waves
soon swallowed into darkness

Resting on a sea-smoothed rock
my feet wetted with cool water
I flare a sulphurous match
touching it to the lantern’s wick

A pool of golden light
fills the darkness of my heart
as I remember the evenings
when you were still here.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #77 photo prompt.

Image credit: Andrew Morris @ Unsplash
The image shows a lantern sitting on the wet sand of a beach. There are fairy lights inside the lantern.

Annihilation

April 7, 2021April 10, 2021 Chris Hall56 Comments

Back in my corporeal form, my sense of self reasserts itself. I pick my way through the detritus of another ruined city, the remnants of a multinational conflict: the world’s leaders have destroyed each other and, in a mad orgy of annihilation, almost the whole of humanity has perished. My world has been burnt to a crisp and I take no pleasure in the part I have played.

Am I the only one left? I long for my home, my uncle and our secret pact with Gaia – but where is she?

Abandoned, alone
I trudge the blackened back-roads
seeking redemption.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – TAKE, CRISP, TIN
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – HOME

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories!

Little Wickedness

April 5, 2021April 6, 2021 Chris Hall51 Comments

Porcelain cheeks, rosebud mouth
hide cunning mischief
that lurks inside.

Dropping your decorous robe
lascivious lips curl around
murmured persuasions
nuzzling nakedness
your smile
beguiles

A shiver down a sinuous spine
foraging finger tips fathom
a sharp intake of breath
sensuous rhythms
rock together
forever

Dawn slides into morning
decorum is restored;
appearance is all.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #76 photo prompt.

Image credit: GoranH on Pixabay
The image shows a small porcelain angel sitting in a prayer mode.

Making War

March 31, 2021April 1, 2021 Chris Hall61 Comments

Gaia’s mantle shifts; I gear up for another astral transformation. I multiply, the same being, my very essence, replicates exponentially. Shimmering but not silent, the words of suggestion well up in my mouth as I creep into the consciousness of the rich and powerful that govern so-called humanity; the privileged who instigated their own rescue from the Great Wave that destroyed lesser mortals.

I unleash insidious whispers; spilling into seductive thoughts, temptation floods their avaricious hearts. Now’s the time to strike: the world can be mine!

Hypnotised by greed
they’ll unleash the dogs of war:
which one will strike first?

Image credit: Håkon Grimstad on Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – SAME, WELL, TEMPTATION
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – GEAR

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories

Ode to Selene

March 29, 2021 Chris Hall59 Comments

Starlight pricks heaven’s violet mantle

Evening shades fade to velvet umber

Luminous in languorous liquid light

Eternal sentinel of mortal slumber

Never failing, forever wax and waning

Enduring, eternal moon.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #75 photo prompt.

Image credit: Jasmin Chew@ Unsplash
The image shows a young woman looking up at the sky where a new moon is visible. Her stance is meditative.

Selene is the Greek goddess of the moon. Her Roman equivalent is Luna.

Tsunami

March 24, 2021March 25, 2021 Chris Hall66 Comments

Threaded with trails of ruby magma, blackened viscous air enfolds me; far beneath me the ocean seethes and thunders, rising up in gargantuan walls of water and yet, all the rage passes through me, washes over me. I am immune, while fun-filled bars and sun-kissed beaches are obliterated.

The devastation spreads. Coastal conurbations, north, south, east and west are drenched with deadly, dripping force. Forests flatten, creatures flee; my only thought is for them.

The human infestation is weakened, badly damaged, yet not even decimated; I am still not done.

In Gaia’s service
as rival to Pandora:
her jar is emptied.

Image credit: Emiliano Arano on Pexels.com

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – TRAIL, FUN, DRENCHED
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – SERVICE

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Pop over to the #SSS Link Up Party for more Six Sentence Stories

Embrace me

March 22, 2021 Chris Hall38 Comments

Forest’s glamour calls us softly
tempts us to tread her tranquil tracks
entwines us in expired enchantments,
past promises and spent desire.

Shrouded mysteries lie before us
veiled in magic, lost in time
where dryads strolled and naiads frolicked
in crystal pools and creeks of light.

Darkness falls as we draw closer
tracing the edge of moonlight’s sight
we trespass boldly on her magic carpet
and embrace the secrets of the night.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #74 photo prompt.

Image credit: Eric Muhr @ Unsplash
The image shows a forest scene with a path going deep into the forest. The trees in the distance are shrouded in mist.

Shatter

March 17, 2021March 18, 2021 Chris Hall45 Comments

Borne on sacred scents, my development is complete. Now, incarnated in astral form, I hover over the occidental shore of the earth’s most populous continent.

I brace myself for the coming cacophony. My throat fills, and at Gaia’s command, I throw back my head and let fly the discordant melody that holds the power to move mountains: an unstoppable force, unleashed from the fragile firmament to the barely broken azure below.

Waves of disharmony filter through the air, a hideous marriage of chords of doom and pitches of despair.

The earth’s crust shatters
sulphurous strings billow forth:
Mount Teide tumbles.

Image credit: Clive Kim on Pexels.com

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – MARRIAGE, STRING, DEVELOPMENT
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – FILTER

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Visit the SSS link up party for more Six Sentence Stories